Cigarette Companies Win a Round
In International Smuggling Lawsuits

NEW YORK -- A federal judge threw out smuggling lawsuits filed against cigarette makers by the European Union, 10 of its member states and the provincial governments of Colombia.

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., wrote in a decision handed down Tuesday that the cases amount to a legally impermissible effort to use U.S. courts to collect foreign taxes, something barred by the so-called common-law...